Close-knit Panthers family kept talks informal

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Penrith Panthers, a veteran member of its board said yesterday, was an extremely close-knit organisation not unlike a family. Honour and a man's word were respected and rarely questioned, friendships spanned decades and some directors were so close there was little need to meet formally.

"We are always together, every Saturday at the football," said Terence Heidtmann, a Penrith stalwart, yesterday. "We sort of just meet each other in the middle of the street. We would just sit down and talk about things, usually have a yarn over a beer, discuss the things that might be cropping up."

Mr Heidtmann was in the witness stand at the commission of inquiry into Penrith Panthers. As a member of the executive committee of the Panthers board he was one of three men who were privy to the contractual and salary arrangements of the club's veteran chief executive officer, Roger Cowan, and its most senior managers.

But like his fellow member, Keith Rhind, who took the stand an hour before him, Mr Heidtmann had to concede to the inquiry that he had been privy to little real detail, including how Mr Cowan, his son, Max, or the gaming manager, John Wilson, were paid or how much.

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Neither he nor Mr Rhind had any idea that Mr Wilson received $30,000 of his $300,000 salary via Mr Cowan's family company, Phyro Holdings, nor that Mr Cowan junior was beneficiary of a similar arrangement via Phyro in the payment of his $175,000 salary. Advances totalling $72,000 to two players, Rhys Wesser and Preston Campbell, via Phyro were"news" to both men.

Asked if there were any records of discussions about any of the managers' payments, Mr Rhind told the inquiry there were none; he was not a hoarder and had shredded much of the paperwork over the years.

The commission chairman, Ian Temby, QC, asked: "I don't wish to be harsh with you ... this is a good deal less than satisfactory ... all you have is imperfect memory?" "Yes," Mr Rhind said.

Mr Heidtmann said that only a few years ago no one would have known how to spell "corporate governance". He later conceded that the complex salary arrangements looked like an "income-splitting caper".

He also described his own intricate business relationship with the club. Mr Heidtmann, a real estate agent since the late 1960s, said he had been involved in the sale of four properties owned by Penrith Panthers.

Mr Rhind, a director of 30 years' standing, also told the inquiry he had had a longstanding business relationship with the Panthers. Penrith Panthers had been his single biggest client as an insurance agent with a GIO franchise.